WEEK 4 - Prod. Team: Starting the Cowboy Bust & Features

Okay, so I am going for semi-real, but stylized. So so maybe after all this sculpting, the texture painting will play a huge role on this cowboy.In ZBrush, this is my attempting of playing with the Fibermesh do the Hair. Still quite a learning process, but (to fit the theme of the team project) I may have to simply the hair but sculpting it (stylized) if it comes down to it.

THE EAR IS NOT MY BEST FRIEND RIGHT NOW."

PRACTICING WITH THE FIBER MESH BELOW.

I TRIED DOING HIS MUSTACHE IN LAYER, BUT I'll probably have to go another route.

This is what I have so far with the face. I could use some critique on this guy because I've been staring at him too long in one day lol. The ears are my weakness. I'm going for semi-real, stylized character.

Attempting Pants in MD

 After watching a few tutorials on creating jeans, I tried to attempt this myself, with using an avatar in Marvelous Designer. So below I snipped a photo of the process, thus far. A whole lot went into this pair a jeans, then I ended up Zbrush sculpting most of it, and applying the back-pockets and belt-loops (quaddrawed from Maya) then back to Zbrush and you'll see results in the next post.

 

Quick Masked Scuplt of Hands / Feet

Wasn't sure if the hands and feet were required in this anatomy study, (being that my focus was mostly on the torso and legs, I started blocking out the hands and feet, and later on, will attach them to the rest of the body (after approval).

 

 

 

Audrey Everett's Logo Layouts / Project Proposals

In my sketchbook, I took my favorite logo and detailed it accordingly.

PROJECTS FOR PORTFOLIO I

AUDREY C. EVERETT        3D CHARACTER MODELER

Portfolio Assignments:

1. Male Anatomy Study
   1. In Zbrush, start blocking out (constructing) muscles in 1-2 subDiv levels, and study anatomy references for detailing on subDiv 3. Retopo using Topogun, and UV Unwrap and apply material in 3D Coat.
2. Amphibian Anatomy Study
   1. After modeling a base mesh in Maya, start blocking out (constructing) muscles in 1-2 subDiv levels in Zbrush, and study anatomy references for detailing on subDiv 3. Retopo using Quaddraw, and UV Unwrap in 3D Coat.
3. Prod. Team - Semi-real/stylized character – Cowboy Hunter
   1. [[Referencing, ‘Guerilla Games’ ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ style]] Import base, sculpt in Zbrush, simulate clothing in Marvelous Designer, play with fibermesh (for hair) and sculpt extra details by midterms.
4. Stylized male Viking character (Vladimar)
   1. [[Referencing, ‘Flynn Rider’ from Disney’s ‘Tangled’ style]] - Sculpt in ZBrush, simulate clothing in Marvelous Designer, retopo in (Topogun), UV Unwrap in 3D Coat, and Texture paint in SP.

Last Quarter/Foundations:

1. Contract Stylized male character (Clocksworth) – 8K-12K tris.
   1. Sculpted in Zbrush, retoped/unwrapped in Maya, projection/ texture painted in Zbrush, and Lit/Rendered in Marmoset. (consider increasing polycount)
   2. Assets modeled, unwrapped: the clock, hat, and bomb w/ maps.
2. Creature: Stylized Werewolf (Master Putin)
   1. [[Referencing, Hotel Transylvania’s Wolf]] - Built base mesh in Maya, sculpted and texture painted in Zbrush, retoped w/ Quaddraw and unwrapped in Maya
   2. Need to model asset:
3. Stylized female Viking (Athena) – consider increasing polycount.
   1. [[Referencing, Hotel Transylvania’s ‘Mavis’ style]] - Built base mesh in Maya, sculpted and texture painted in Zbrush, retoped w/ Quaddraw and unwrapped in Maya.
4. Team Prod. - (High Sculpt of Dexter) from Dexter’s Laboratory w/ Anna Vo.
   1. High-sculpted in Zbrush, lab coat simulated in Marvelous Designer, attempted to sculpt hair w/ fibermesh (but resulted on stylized hair), and painted in ZBrush.

Older Projects:

• Stylized Corn Character (Count Cornula) – lowpoly modeled in Maya with applied dynamics, making the Corn-On-A-Cob character melt and shatter.

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Portfolio One Management           

Continue posting progress on blog!

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

• 3D Character Modeling
• Programs used: Maya, ZBrush, 3D Coat, Marmoset, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, (Topogun?)
• Referenced Industries: DreamWorks’, Disney, Illuminations, Blue Sky, Pixar (and maybe Guerilla Games)
  PROJECT BREAKDOWN: Prioritized Stages/Iterations

1. Plan: research references of creatures & sketch a turn-around of character on paper.
2. Finished Line Art – clean finalized sketches of Character Turn-Around ready for production.
3. Start modeling low-poly base mesh of your character in Maya.
4. .OBJ Import model into ZBrush and begin sculpting high-poly details.
5. Export high poly .OBJ files into Maya & BEGIN RETOPOLOGY in Maya (maybe Topogun?).
   1. UV Layout – start UV unwrapping your low poly meshes/ export into ZBrush when done. 
6. Bake Maps in SP/xNormals: High-poly detailed Projection to my Low-poly retopo.
   1. Poly Paint: Paint your base colors onto character in ZBrush or SB?
7. Post-Prod. – 3-Point Lighting/Render in Maya, (maybe Marmoset?)
   PROJECT 1 SCHEDULE:

WEEK 1: Breakdown stage

1. WED-FRI -            Work on 4pgs of thumbnail sketches of logos to post on blog before class.
2. SAT -                      Block out muscles on base-mesh in ZBrush.

WEEK 2: Logo Layouts / Begin Sculpting in ZBrush.

1. TUES -                   Decide on logo IN CLASS (w/ professor), and detail it daily.

1. Google more “Anatomy Studies” to reference for both human and animal.

2. WED –                  Continue detailing finalizing logos.
3. THURS-SUN        Continue sculpting anatomy, and post on blog.
   
   

WEEK 3: Retopology / UV Unwrap

1. MON –                  Apply any cleanups as needed before class tomorrow.

1. Practice using Mixamo w/ character (rigging purposes)

2. TUES -                   Decimate character mesh for easy import into (Maya or Topogun).

1. Export OBJ. files back into Maya for retopo (Quaddraw).
2. Begin UV unwrapping retopos, if you haven’t already.

3. WED-THURS -     Begin stimulating cowboy clothes in Marvelous Designer.
4. Bake Maps, in SP? - UV Projection’ phase of each high poly to low poly.

WEEK 4: Bake Maps / Texture Painting

1. Export colored OBJ. files again for substance painter?
2. Texture paint RGB color and detail onto low poly meshes in ZBrush.
3. Export ALL Maps, if needed.

WEEK 5: Anatomy Studies / Cowboy Hunter high-sculpt are DUE!

1. MON – Painting and maps should be completed, if not already.
1. Quick lighting/render in Marmoset, if haven’t already.
2. TUES – FINISH ANATOMY STUDIES BEFORE CLASS.            

3. WED -   Finalize hair (fibermesh) for presentation tomorrow.
1. BEGIN RESEARCH FOR NEXT STYLIZED CHARACTER.
4. THURS – Finalize any detailing for the cowboy, and remember to post updates.
1. PROD. TEAM – Cowboy Hunter should be fully sculpted before class.

WEEK 6: Project Two Stylized Character / Retopo Cowboy.

1. SAT-MON –   Sketch character turn-around, post on blogs!
   1. Start building up on base mesh.
   2. Apply base colors for cowboy (study concept design)
2. TUES -   Continue sculpting on stylized character out/in class (post on blog!)
3. THURS – PROD. TEAM - Decimation Master, Retopo in Maya (Topogun)
4. FRI- SUN – Continue sculpting on stylized character
   1. Start stimulating clothes in MD.

WEEK 7: Sculpting phase in Zbrush for Stylized Character / UV Unwrap Cowboy.

4. TUES - Begin fully sculpting details for stylized character.
5. WED a.m.-          Bring clothing into Zbrush for any extra details for sculpting.
6. THURS -                PROD. TEAM – UV Unwrap

WEEK 8: Retopology & UV Unwrap Stylized Character.

5. SAT-SUN -           Decimate character easy export OBJ. for Retopology.

7. MON/TUES -      UV Unwrap stylized character.

1. Bake Maps (High to Low), Apply base colors in SP.

8. THURS - PROD. TEAM - Bake All Maps, Apply base colors, if able.

WEEK 9: Bake Maps / Texture Painting (in Zbrush or SP)

1. IF TEXTURE PAINTING IN ZBRUSH, THEN Projection’ in Zbrush (if needed). Export colored OBJ. files again for substance painter. Texture paint RGB color and detail onto low poly meshes in ZBrush. Then, export ALL Maps, as needed.

WEEK 10: Presentation Due

5. TUES – FINISH PROJECT                 Render a character turn-around in Marmoset.

WEEK 11: PROJECT 2 LATE DAY!

• Resubmissions?
• Cleanups/Lighting/Rigging?

Refinement and Rounding of Torso (Work in Progress)

After getting some feedback, I worked on defining my rib cage more (less boxy), and adding more roundness to the abs and pecks (using hPolish brush). My main conflict was suggestion of either flexing or standing naturally, but I wanted to slightly exaggerate (popping out) of the muscles with a mixture of the Clay brush & Dam Standard brush.

Testing my Study in Mixamo!

And with this, I decimated this dynamesh (as a whole) for easy export out of ZBrush and into Mixamo to apply a fun rig and see how well my nude study worked out.

Torso, Arms, and Feet Update.

Originally, I sculpted each parts of the body in separate pieces. So I went ahead and merged my layers together in ZBrush, and turned it into a Dynamesh of 2048-RES (which helped me to keep the detail).

 

WEEK 3: Sculpting the Arms

With my reference images at the right, I masked out another part of my basemesh to start building up the major muscles of my arms. Everything is still in separate pieces, but I do plan on merging them together later to get better blending results. (should've took more angles of this).

I started paying attention to my abs afterwhile, but I could use another eye for any enhancements needed.

Legs Anatomy Update.

 Above is the results, and below are the processes. (Sides of my torso needs a little more work)

Torso Anatomy Update.

Here is where I took the time to define the muscles a little more and create the illusion of the skin on top of the sculpted muscles I used with the ClayBuildup brush in ZBrush. I think these results are waaay better than the way I started lol.

After getting the results I have, I studied some references of the muscles accordingly to see make sure my torso is highly believable. All in all, I feel as though I'm off to a good start.

WEEK 2: Quick Blocking Out Muscles

I've come to realize that going this route isn't necessarily the best for me, being that it looks "rushed". Down below I took four snippets of my progress to see how far I've come. I'm eyeballing where the anatomy should be placed, but I feel like I'm everywhere at once.

Here below, my abs are all off. I'm caving in too deeply, and I'm forcing it which is not okay. So for my next update, I plan on making a few changes to this method and take my time to mask out each body part, and focus only on just that. (ex. torso, legs, arms, feet, hands, etc)

WEEK 1: Logo Ideas by Audrey C. Everett

Majoring in Media Arts & Animation, I am focusing on Character Concept and Modeling. I am both a 2D/3D Artist with experience in illustrations, concepts, modeling, and character animating. Down below is where I came up with 72 silhouette sketches of random thoughts that came to mind as I was either eating, riding on the train, working, and getting ready for bed lol.

Above is Page One where I solely focused on incorporating my dreads into my design. My initials spell of "A.C.E" is and my favorite color is purple, which is how I came up with my artist name "Purple Ace". But for now, I want to brand my name itself, Audrey C. Everett with the name "EVER AUD" (pronounced: 'ever-odd'). With this, I wanted to complete pieces that pertained to a spades, my dreads, and personality. My artwork represents me: fun, odd, and clean. The one I favor above is [12].

Above is Page Two. [1, 2, 5]

Another above is Page Three; where I focused on the fact that I love giraffes. They're tall, graceful, and aspiring to look at, which is how I want people to see my work. So after while, I tried to come up with ideas to incorporate this along with my dread designs and/or spade. But I haven't made any decisions yet, but so far, I'm am loving [5, 17, 22]

Original Concepts by Audrey Everett

www.purpleace.artstation.com